''Tapinoma minutissimum'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

species of ant in the genus ''

Tapinoma ''Tapinoma'' (from Greek ''ταπείνωμα'' low position) is a genus of ants that belongs to the subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus currently comprises 74 described species distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate regions. Members of ...

''. Described by Emery in 1891, specimens of the species were found in

Sicilian amber Sicilian refers to the autonomous Italian island of Sicily. Sicilian can also refer to: * Sicilian language, a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily, its satellite islands, and southern Calabria * Sicilians, people from or with origins ...

, whence a fossilised male of the species was described.Emery, C. 1891b. Le formiche dell'ambra Siciliana nel Museo Mineralogico dell'Università di Bologna. ''Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna'' (5)1:141-165

References

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...

Fossil ant taxa Oligocene insects Hymenoptera of Europe Prehistoric life of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1891 {{Tapinoma-stub